Feedlots concentrate beef cattle in pens for the final months before slaughter, creating specific welfare challenges that require active management.
Feedlot cattle welfare is determined by a combination of environmental conditions, diet management, disease prevention, and handling practices that vary significantly between operations. The dietary transition to high-grain diets causes metabolic stress that manifests as subacute ruminal acidosis in many cattle, producing discomfort and setting up for other health problems. Open pens without shade or shelter expose cattle to weather extremes - heat stress in summer and cold stress in winter - that compromise welfare and productivity simultaneously. Bovine respiratory disease, driven by stress and pathogen transmission in concentrated populations, causes substantial suffering in affected animals. The economic reality that healthier cattle perform better provides market incentives for welfare improvement, but these incentives are insufficient to drive all possible improvements without regulatory requirements or consumer demand signals.